NO2ID Brighton

Open meeting called by Brighton & Hove NO2ID

When - Thu 22. May 7:30pm - 9:30pm. Where - Circus Circus Upstairs room. Organised by - Brighton & Hove NO2ID.
Description - Public meeting to discuss the latest attempts by the Government to force us to have ID cards, what this may mean for you, and WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT. Main speakers include Phil Booth, National Co-ordinator of NO2ID, and Jason Kitcat, Chair of Brighton & Hove Green Party. read more...

We've been trying to get a motion before the council for ages, and it's finally happening!

Brighton & Hove Council have accepted a motion for discussion calling on them to oppose the Government's National Identity Register scheme. The motion, submitted by Green Party leader Jason Kitcat with the cooperation of Brighton & Hove NO2ID, asks the council to condemn the scheme, to refuse to use it unless required by law, and to write to the Home Secretary expressing their concerns. The motion will be read at the next council meeting on Thursday 24th. April, and will be voted on by a committee of councillors late in May.

The National Identity Card issue may have dropped out of the news somewhat since the scheme became law in 2006, and reports of the exact state of the project may have become confused and distorted. However, the government’s plans to introduce the scheme are still alive. While Gordon Brown may have recently suggested he does not support compulsory ID cards for all, his government’s own activity shows that Whitehall is still determinedly laying out the foundations of the system.

A leaked government document recently confirmed what ministers have also stated, which is that foreign nationals will be required to hold an ID card this very year, such a transparently repressive measure it’s distressing to think a government thinks it will run. This will be followed next year by people in positions of trust – security guards, teachers and carers, for example – passport applicants by 2010, and young people by 2011. The signs are all that the proposed plan for cards to be issued to everyone else in 2012 is still on track, and whether they’re compulsory or not, the document talks of “various forms of coercion” to encourage people to cooperate, through employers, access to bank accounts, and applying for a first driving licence, to list a few examples.